The head of Piedras Marcadas Canyon, once a dumping ground, has since been restored to its natural look.

Somehow the head of the canyon has become a popular place to unload junk. It’s been filled with construction debris, household trash and other disgusting finds for months.

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Residents and neighbors became frustrated, because carved in the canyon rocks are petroglyphs that have been around long before the city of Albuquerque.

"It was worse than disgusting it was no respect for this land at all," neighbor Gene DeLuigi said.

Neighbors like DeLuigi took matters into their own hands. Last October, they began organizing volunteer groups to pick up trash near the canyon.

"I got sick of it. If I'm going to live here, I want it to stay nice and I want it to look pretty," DeLuigi said.

But the construction debris proved difficult to eradicate. Most of it consisted of concrete remnants and were unable to be carried by a group of people. Neighbors pushed City Councilman Dan Lewis to cough up $75,000 from his set-aside fund to help remove the debris.

Crews started hauling off the debris about two weeks ago. Twenty-five truckloads and nearly 400 tons of junk later, the area looks nearly spotless.

Ike Eastvold, creator of the Friends of the Albuquerque Petroglyphs, said the area is almost unrecognizable.

"A very fine part of a monument which had been trashed is slowly being brought back to the quality where we can invite visitors here," Eastvold said.

The only debris left has to be checked for asbestos before being hauled off. The money spent by Lewis’ office came from his set-aside fund and we’re told not all of it was used.